The Buddha, The Dharma, The Sangha

"Spiritual powers and their wondrous functioning--hauling water and carrying firewood." --Layman Pang, upon his realization

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Trimming It To The Bitter Edge

On my way home from Yoga this morning, passing through a lovely little valley with fields on either side and the occasional home, I saw a young man with a lawn mower mowing right down to the edge of his property...in fact, he was in the street so that he might get the best angle for mowing.

As I drove by, I realized that it wasn't the grass he was trimming, but a stand of blue and purple Cornflower, Queen Anne's Lace and a little white trumpet shaped vine that rambled along like a toddler, without a care in the world.

The mower tilted the blade so that it could act as a sythe, and all the "weeds" tumbled in a fresh green cluster, soon to darken, dry and decay.

I found myself wondering,"Why do we sometimes feel the need to trim right to the edge?

Why do we take our purpose, our intention, to the bitter end? Why can't we just allow for a bit of space around things--the plants on our property, one another, our own thoughts and sensations?

Why is it so difficult sometimes to allow for rambling? For a little disarray?

I have deep urges to act as sharp as a scalpel sometimes, even as the cutting goes too deep to heal properly. My tendency is to use a very big lawn mower, and hey, if I lose a few wildflowers in the process, well then, that's the price to pay for order, for known comfort, for life as I want it....or is it?

Doesn't a bigger hammer do a better job? Shouldn't I pound a little harder?

Hmmmmm....

People around me, as I wield that scalpel, do not sprout and refresh so effortlessly as the wildflowers along the roadside.

In another week when I go by again, the Cornflower and Queen Anne's Lace will be thick and lush again, without a trace of the drastic trimming.

But other sentient beings hold the memory of a sharp word, a careless action, a thoughtless moment. It lingers, and retains a tinge of holding back, even as we desire No Holding Back!

Allowing for space is the foundation of not holding back. Allowing for ease of blurring the edge....

The Blue Lotus Seed: A Buddhist journal

Welcome to The Blue Lotus Seed, a space created to offer the Dharma, through poetry, art, musings and discourse. The lotus is a water flower that begins in mud and sediment, rising through murky water as it pushes to reach the surface. The flower pod, tight and drab green, slowly opens to the sky. In Buddhist lore, the lotus is a symbol of our humble beginnings, and what waits for us, as we come ever closer to realizing our Buddha Nature.

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A Buddhist Priest with The Blue Mountain Lotus Society, Order of the Dragonfly, I began seriously studying Buddhism June of 2005. After I received the Precepts, things moved very quickly. I committed to the 3 year Priest Studies
Program directed by Sensei Anthony Stultz of Harrisburg, PA.
In May of 2010, I finished my course of studies, and I am now a fully ordained Osho.
All opinions expressed in this blog are my own humble reflections of the Dharma, however deluded, and my most sincere hope for Upaya, the skillful manifestation of the Prajnaparamitta, inspired by Bodhidharma, Shinran, Dogen Zenji, Bankei and all of my excellent teachers, both past, present and future, all alive in the indestructable, unborn, immutable Buddha Nature. May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering, May all beings be free!